Show Horse (12 page)

“Potential? I thought she was a champion.”

“I thought so, too,” said Lisa. “But I was wrong. She isn’t a champion, yet. She will be. She definitely will be, but she isn’t yet. Right now, she’s like …” Lisa struggled, trying to think how to convey to her mother what had gone wrong. At the same time that she wanted to describe what had gone wrong with the horse, she needed to understand what had gone wrong with herself. Prancer had made mistakes, but Lisa understood that she had made the biggest mistakes of all. “… She’s like a young girl who’s never been in a horse show before and who doesn’t understand what’s really important until she loses it. I was wrong, Mom,” Lisa said. “I thought that being in a horse show is about winning and that Prancer was the secret to winning. Now I know that Prancer wasn’t ready to show. I had no business bringing such a green horse into a show ring. I’m lucky the judge didn’t get badly hurt. Prancer could have kicked hard enough to break some bones! I must have been out of my mind!”

Lisa looked at her mother and shook her head in sorrow. She could tell that her mother didn’t understand. Her mother could offer her comfort and support, but her mother just didn’t understand about horses and horse shows. Lisa thought it wasn’t all that surprising that her mother didn’t understand, though, since she herself had only recently—like in the last two minutes—come to see what this was really about.

Mrs. Atwood offered her arms for comfort once again.

“Thanks for listening, Mom,” Lisa said, accepting the hug and knowing that it was the only thing her mother could do for her.

“I’m just sorry for you, dear. Now let me take you home. Your dad will be home in a little while. You can take a nice hot bath, and then maybe we’ll go to a movie.…”

Home?
There was something inviting about a steaming bubbly bath and the comfort of the love and support of her parents, but Lisa knew that wasn’t what she needed. She had work to do right here.

“I can’t do it, Mom,” she said. “I have to stay here.”

“Why? There’s nothing here for you, is there?”

“Maybe not me,” Lisa said. “But there is something for my friends, and I want to be here for them. Stevie and Carole are both doing well in the show. I’m going to stick around and cheer them on.”

That was right. It sounded right and it felt right. It was the first
right
idea Lisa had had since the moment she had chosen Prancer for the horse show.

“But how will you get home?”

“Max will bring me,” she said. “Or maybe Stevie’s parents. Don’t worry. I’ll find a way.”

Lisa was a little startled then to find that Max was standing behind her. “No problem, Mrs. Atwood. I’ll bring her home,” he said. “Lisa’s right to stay. She’s got some work to do.”

“I do?”

“Yes, you do,” he said.

“Well, I have these tickets,” Mrs. Atwood said.
“Maybe I’ll just stay around here and watch some of the horse show. It seems that there are a lot of things about horse shows I don’t understand. I might learn something watching.”

“Yes, you might,” Max agreed. “There’s a lot of learning going on here today.” Then he told Mrs. Atwood where he’d seen some empty seats, and she left to find them.

Lisa spoke before he had a chance to say anything. “I really blew it, didn’t I?”

He smiled at the way she’d put it. “Yes, I think you did. But I knew your mind was made up. It reminded me of a time I was just determined to ride a new horse that Dad brought into the stable. His name was Lightning, I think. He was a beauty, too, and I just had to take him out on a trail ride.…”

Lightning?
That was the name of the horse in the story Mrs. Reg had told Lisa. That meant that the story was about Max!

“You were in the hospital?” Lisa asked.

Max stopped talking and looked at her in surprise. Then he understood. “Do I gather that my mother has beat me to the punch on this story?”

Lisa nodded. “I guess you and I have something in common.”

“Sure,” Max agreed. “It means we’ve both done things we should have known better than to do. And it appears that we’ve both learned from the experience.”

He put his arm across her shoulder and gave her a
hug. It wasn’t a warm maternal hug, the way her mother had hugged her, but it was a very important one. Max’s hug told her that she, Lisa, was going to be able to make everything all right for herself.

“Thanks,” she said to Max. “I needed that. Now I think my friends need me. I’m going to go help them get ready for the Trail class.”

“No, there’s something else you need to do,” Max said, stopping her midtrack.

“What?”

“Well, according to the Briarwood rules, your disqualification applied to Prancer, not necessarily to you. I would like to see you compete in the last two Intermediate classes here today.”

“Me, too,” Lisa agreed. “But I think the Briarwood rules require that I be on the back of some sort of four-footed animal.…”

“Like Barq?” Max said.

“Barq?”

“Sure. We brought him because one of the adults is going to ride him later in the Senior Jumping class. Until then, he’s available for any rider who might consider petitioning the judges to permit her to ride a new horse. It’s the sort of thing that would be permitted if a horse became lame. That’s just another kind of disqualification.”

“How do I petition? I mean, do I have to sign something?”

Max’s eyes flicked around until they found what he was looking for. He pointed to a place where the three
Intermediate judges were standing and chatting during the break. “I think all you have to do is to go ask nicely. See if you can do it without kicking anybody, okay?” he teased. Then he gave her a gentle, encouraging shove.

A half hour later, Lisa was back in the saddle, this time mounted on Barq, and all ready to compete in the Trail class.

Veronica had given her a nasty look, and that made Lisa feel good. Even better, though, Stevie and Carole had given her high fives when she’d shared her exciting news. Even the judge who’d been kicked by Prancer seemed pleased. She’d wished Lisa good luck. Max clapped loudly when she entered the ring. Her mother waved with excitement. Mrs. Reg smiled. But best of all was the way Lisa felt about herself. No matter what happened for the rest of the day, Lisa understood that she was a winner.

B
ARQ WAS A
wonderful horse. Lisa had ridden the bay gelding before and had just forgotten how nice it was to give a horse an instruction and have him follow it. There was an exciting feeling of freedom, and Barq sensed her joy. The two of them worked in near-perfect union for the entire class.

In the Trail class, the ring had been set up with a path each rider had to follow in turn, with small obstacles along the way. There were no jumps, as there would be in the actual Jumping class, but poles and cones had been set out to simulate a crooked trail with various natural objects that a horse and rider would have to maneuver around.

Barq seemed to think it was a lot of fun to follow the circuitous trail and step gingerly over the poles
and the pan of water that had been laid out as a “creek.” Barq especially liked the creek. Lisa wondered if it actually reminded him of Willow Creek, which wandered through the woods behind Pine Hollow. She would never know, but what she did know was that her horse accepted the challenge and met every turn and obstacle like the fine trail horse he was.

When she’d finished riding the “course,” Lisa found she didn’t care a bit whether or not she won a ribbon or even placed. She’d competed. She’d had fun. That was all that mattered.

She watched as the other riders followed the trail. Some were better than others. Veronica and Garnet had some trouble because Veronica wasn’t paying enough attention. When Garnet stopped to take a drink out of the “creek,” Lisa knew she was out of the running for a ribbon. That didn’t bother Lisa at all.

Carole and Starlight had fun, just the way Lisa had. Starlight seemed to like events that didn’t require perfect attention the way Equitation did. He moved easily and gracefully among the obstacles, and Carole was pleased with his performance.

Lisa was very glad to see that Stevie and Topside were back in top form, too. This wasn’t going to be Topside’s best event because, in a way, Topside was the complete opposite of Starlight. Topside was at his best when total structure was called for. That was what his training was. He was good at trail riding and he enjoyed it, but his heart was in dressage, and that was where he excelled. Still, he was doing pretty well,
and Stevie, at least, looked as if she were enjoying herself. Actually, when Lisa caught her attention briefly, Stevie winked at her. That was a sure sign that Stevie was having fun. Lisa was glad she’d talked Stevie into continuing in the show. She was also glad that Stevie had told her to take her own advice, because that was just what she was doing.

When the ribbons were handed out, Lisa could hardly believe that she got a red one—second place! It seemed right, too, that Carole’s friend, Cam, got the blue. He and Duffy had done a wonderful job on the trail and deserved the blue. Carole came in third. She seemed pleased by that, and Stevie took a fifth. Veronica didn’t place at all. That seemed right, too.

Then it was lunchtime. It would give the young riders a chance to see what was going on in the Senior Division competition because the Seniors’ lunch break would come later. It would also give the young riders—especially The Saddle Club—a chance to
talk.
And there was so much to talk about. The threesome, joined by Cam, bought hot dogs and sodas and walked around the whole area of the show.

The Junior riders (both Beginner and Intermediate) were using two rings off one end of the stable, whereas the Senior Division used several larger ones off the other end of the stable. The girls and Cam had spent all of their time so far with the young riders and hadn’t even seen where the Seniors were performing. The four of them found a spot by the fence of the ring and watched a hunter-jumper class.

“Look at that form!” Cam said in frank admiration while one rider completed the course flawlessly. None of them was surprised when she took the blue ribbon in the event.

“What I have to do is learn to maintain an even pace the way that rider did,” Carole said.

“Oh, I think you can do it,” Cam told her. “Starlight moves so beautifully that he can certainly do it with an even pace. And how does he jump?”

“He’s the best,” Carole said enthusiastically. “He can jump very high, and it’s like flying. In fact, sometimes the real trick is holding him back.”

“Right. It’s not good form for a horse to jump four feet high over a two-foot fence.”

“It’s better than the other way around,” Stevie said philosophically.

All four of them laughed. To each, the tensions of the morning, the disappointments, the difficulties, and the stress of the hard lessons, seemed to drain away. They were thoroughly enjoying themselves while surrounded by the one thing they each loved the most: horses.

When the hunter-jumper class was finished, Lisa looked at her watch and informed the others that it was time for them to get back to the stalls. They needed to prepare for the last, and hardest, event of the day, Jumping class.

In the first three classes of the day, all of the competitors had been in the ring at the same time. The Trail class and Jumping class were different from those
in that the competitors each performed separately, alone in the ring.

Stevie was the first of the four of them to go through the course. She leaned forward and gave Topside a reassuring pat on his neck before they entered the ring. Then she heard her name and Topside’s announced. It was time to enter the ring and begin the course. Suddenly she was flooded with thoughts. She thought about how wonderful it had been to win a blue in Equitation and how awful it had been to do so badly in the Pleasure class. Then she recalled the feeling of relief when she’d done her best in the Trail class and placed just about where she’d thought she ought to place. It had been a long day, but she felt as if she’d come so far. Now all that was left was this. She and Topside could complete the course, and they could do it well. That’s all she wanted. Not only would it be enough for her, but it would be wonderful.

She clucked her tongue and entered the ring, a big smile on her face. She was ready and set. It was time to go.

“See how nicely she’s doing that!” Lisa said excitedly.

“She’s on a great horse,” Cam said.

“It’s not the horse that’s the most important. It’s the rider,” Lisa said. “It’s the rider who has to make all the important decisions and the horse that has to be well enough trained to do the job.”

“Very good!” Carole said, teasing. “This has been a productive day, hasn’t it?”

Lisa smiled, knowing she deserved a little ribbing. “Yes, it has. Oh, there she goes again, flying over the jumps. Stevie’s great!”

Then Stevie was finished. She rode out of the ring and straight over to her friends. Lisa and Carole both reached out to slap the hand she offered. It wasn’t the same as the hug they wanted to give her, but it was the best they could do on horseback.